TI and Neuros team up to build open-source media platform

TI and Neuros are working on a Linux-based open-source multimedia platform for …

Video device maker Neuros has teamed up with Texas Instruments (TI) to promote development of an open-source software platform for video hardware and set-top boxes. To encourage community involvement in the development process, Neuros and TI will be sponsoring bounties and giving cash to developers who implement specific features. This initiative reflects increased interest from TI in reaching out to the open source software community and fostering collaborative software development on top of its hardware components.

The Linux-based operating system and software stack will be called the Open Internet Television HDPlatform and will be developed around TI's TMS320DM644x DSP system-on-a-chip line, codenamed DaVinci. Neuros says that additional details about the software will be available soon and the individual bounties will be announced iteratively over the next six months.

Neuros makes the OSD, a programmable DVR that supports external storage and a wide range of video codecs. Unlike cable company DVRs (which lock content onto the device) or the AppleTV (which locks users into a proprietary multimedia ecosystem) the OSD is an open-ended product that emphasizes extensibility and user choice. The OSD can store content on and play from USB storage devices and network shares and can also be adapted to support third-party web-based content providers.

In my own tests of the Neuros OSD, I have found that it is an extremely promising product, but it lacks the polish, usability, and HD support that it needs to be a must-buy. These are all things that Neuros is working to address with its next-generation model. The first-generation OSD product, which is what Neuros sells today, has served as a prototype and given third-party developers the opportunity to begin hacking on the platform. It can record from any analog audio or video source including cable boxes and DVD players. The next generation model will support high-definition input and output and will also feature a completely new user interface developed with the open source Qt widget toolkit.

TI believes that Linux and open-source software, which are already used in a number of popular embedded devices, will drive the next generation of consumer embedded products. A cohesive and universal open platform and application development stack that can be used on emerging TI-based media hardware products could be a big win for users and independent developers if it gains sufficient adoption, as it would make it easier to create third-party software that is compatible with a wide range of set-top and mobile devices. The availability of such a platform would significantly reduce software development costs for new entrants, so it would likely see considerable adoption.

"Neuros has been doing open development using free software for years, but TI's support for this initiative represents a significant milestone, not just for Open Internet Television Platforms, but open electronics generally," said TI's vice president of worldwide strategic marketing Mark Denissen in a statement. "With a 55 percent market share in the one billion unit worldwide mobile phone market, TI has a significant influence throughout the entire electronics industry, and will become a key player in the proliferation of Free/Open Source Software."

We talked to Neuros CEO Joe Born, who shared his perspective about his company's relationship with TI and plans for promoting open source software. "TI and Neuros are, in essence, sponsoring the development of a complete distribution of Linux for a set-top box. The cooperation with Neuros means that there will be a complete reference design, distribution all the way to a consumer branded device that's available directly at retail to consumers," Born told Ars. "When done, it will be a complete open platform that will allow developers of all levels to contribute and port applications. Our goal is to have a web browser so that participation using only web tools is possible."

Only a few short years ago, says Born, TI approached certain aspects of the open source development model with some uncertainty and trepidation, but now the company is "not only supporting open development, but involving the community and putting dollars into the community to do it."

In the short-term, the inclusiveness of an open platform and community-driven development will lead to increased innovation and better products for the end user, but the long-term benefits could have far more profound implications. "I believe what's happening in electronics mirrors what happened with PC's some 25+ years ago, and that there's a tipping point where open electronics will allow third-party participation in way not before seen outside of PCs," Born told us. "I believe that embedded Linux distributions reaching the consumer level is an important milestone on this path."

Standards-based open-source solutions for multimedia—like Songbird, Miro, and the Neuros OSD—are gaining traction and could force the major incumbents to open up their walled gardens. Open platforms could also shake things up for the content industry by providing independent content creators with access to effective distribution channels outside of Big Content's reach. Neuros and other open media participants are also fighting back against DRM and other content encumberments that impose arbitrary limitations on how users can consume, placeshift, and timeshift their content. This new platform created by TI and Neuros with the involvement of the open source community could be a major step towards a truly open video ecosystem that puts the interests of consumers first.